Rinelle Grey's Blog, page 20

Today I’m participating in Indie Life, a feature run by Indelibles. I haven’t done this before, but it sounds awesome, and I’m looking forward to meeting lots of new indie authors! Basically, everyone posts about something related to indie publishing, and visits everyone else. To see who else is involved, check out the linky list.

Since it happens to coincide with my 100th post, I thought I’d talk about how writing this blog ties in with writing my novels.

There’s a bit of debate over whether writing a blog is useful for fiction writers, who don’t have a ready topic to build an audience as non-fiction writers might. Some say it’s still useful, other’s say it takes valuable time away from writing.

I can see both points of view. Sometimes, I’m torn over whether to write a blog post, or my novel. Since I’ve made a commitment to write a blog post on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, writing a blog post often seems more urgent. But that doesn’t mean it’s more important.

So is it worth the effort? What does blogging do for my writing?

Tying it all together

Although I’m active on many other forms of social media (twitter, facebook, pinterest, goodreads, google+), blogging is what draws it all together for me. It’s only here that I can link all the places I’m available together. (Check out the links on the left hand side of the page if you want to follow me.) I announce free promotions here, have pages for all my novels, and most of my social media pages link back here regularly for longer content.

Connecting with other Writers

The majority of my blog posts are for other writers, discussing writing, editing and self-publishing tips. I love reading these sorts of articles myself, so it makes sense to me to give something back to the writing community by sharing what I’m learning with others.

Widening my Circle

Having a blog means I can participate in blog hops, competitions, and other linking activities (such as Indie Life, SFR Brigade Presents, and the A to Z Blogging Challenge). These bring more readers to my blog, and hopefully eventually to my book/s. It also allows me to swap author interviews and guest post with other writers.

Webpage

Of course, this page isn’t just my blog, it’s also the webpage for my books and writing. You can read my Author Bio, check out the blurb and covers for my books, read the ‘Extras’ after you’ve read the book, and even read the first two chapters of Reckless Rescue for FREE.

Stats

If you’ve read my blog before, you’ll know I have to mention the stats! Every page view that comes through my blog is recorded (by Jetpack), so I can see what promotions bring in new views, where people go, and what links they click on. This not only tells me what sort of things work to bring people to my blog, but what they do when they get here.

It’s also been great for evaluating how effective my two free promotions have been. Everyone talks about how few people read books they’ve downloaded for free, but when I see multiple hits on the Reckless Rescue Extras I’ve mentioned in the back of the book (deleted scenes, character bios etc), then I know at least some people are reading the book, and wanting to find out about the sequel!

Home to my Mailing List

I’ve also recently added a mailing list specifically for announcements of book releases and promotions. I hesitated over this for quite a while, but I’m glad I did! It’s so easy for people to miss posts in the fast moving stream of Twitter, or never to see them at all depending on Facebooks edge rank, but I know that if I send out an email on my mailing list, people will see it. That’s going to come in very useful when my next book is announced.

Accountability

Possibly one of the most useful things about my blog, is the accountability it brings. I began it when I first set a release date for Reckless Rescue, in the hopes of pushing myself to finally get it published. Although I didn’t actually make that date, I know I wouldn’t have even made it close if I hadn’t picked a date and announced it to the world! I still like to make announcements here, and set deadlines for myself. Even if no one comes back and hassles me, having made the deadlines public helps me to stick to them!

So even if my blog doesn’t directly contributed to sales, and even if it does sometimes distract me from writing, I do feel it is important for my writing to keep working on it. How about you? Do you blog? Do you feel it helps or hinders your writing?

Today I’m over at the A to Z Challenge Blog, talking about living without technology. Drop in and check it out!

Tonja Drecker over at Kidbits kindly gave me the “I am Part of the WordPress Family Award” last month. Thanks Tonja!

This is a nice easy reward, all I have to do is nominate 10 others for the award. So here they are:

Ficticious Amo

Mad Scientist.Crazy Mom

Silvia Writes

Rosie Amber

Goodbye Junie Moon

Jenelle Schmidt

lynnelives

a. c. haury

The Odd Particle

Greta van der Rol

Phew. I don’t have as many wordpress blogs on my blogroll as I thought! (I also didn’t want to double up on people I nominated for the last award, even though I love you all!)

If you’re calling around, and I haven’t nominated you, feel free to grab the award and add it to your webpage – this is one of those awards you don’t have to be nominated for.

Hope you’re all having a great weekend!

Since SFR Brigade Presents isn’t running this month (we have a blog hop later in the month instead, excited about that!), I thought I’d run my own ‘Fantasy Friday’s”, to show some excerpts from my few unfinished fantasy series. If anyone would like to join me, let me know in the comments, and I’ll figure out a linky list or something for next week?

I was undecided on what story to post an excerpt from today, as I have many! I’ve decided on my story about twins (as yet unnamed), as this is currently my choice to work on after Reckless Rebellion is finished. (And in looking through the manuscript to post an excerpt, I have to be careful not to get side-tracked!)

In this fantasy world, twins are expected to marry the same person, which in this case, might be going to cause some problems! This is the opening sequence.

“What do you think of Terion?”

The question caught Brianna by surprise, and she paused in plaiting her long blonde hair to look up at her twin, Mianna, standing by the window. She was looking out at something Brianna couldn’t see, so she walked across to the window as she tied a yellow ribbon in her hair.

Following her sister’s gaze, she saw the young man in question, helping move the benches into position in the village square. Like everyone else in the village, she had known him since she was a child, and she could easily recall a hundred facts about him.

He was kind and gentle, and always did the right thing. He’d rescued Mianna’s kitten from a tree when they were seven. He’d taken them for rides on his horse when they were thirteen, but he wouldn’t let Brianna jump over the hedge. When he’d caught them sneaking out of the house at fifteen, after Brianna had spent hours convincing Mianna that it was worth the risk of being caught to watch the dancing at the midsummer bonfire, he’d marched them straight back home, explaining with a twinkle in his eye that they’d soon be old enough to join in the dancing.

“He’s OK I guess. Why?” Brianna asked.

When Mianna didn’t answer, she glanced up, and was surprised to see a blush stealing across her twin’s face. Mianna turned back to the dressing table to pick up a brush.

“No reason,” she said, in an attempt to be off hand. “Are you going to wear the yellow dress, because if you are, I’ll take the blue one.”

Since SFR Brigade Presents isn’t running this month (we have a blog hop later in the month instead, excited about that!), I thought I’d run my own ‘Fantasy Friday’s”, to show some excerpts from my few unfinished fantasy series. If anyone would like to join me, let me know in the comments, and I’ll figure out a linky list or something for next week?

I was undecided on what story to post an excerpt from today, as I have many! I’ve decided on my story about twins (as yet unnamed), as this is currently my choice to work on after Reckless Rebellion is finished. (And in looking through the manuscript to post an excerpt, I have to be careful not to get side-tracked!)

In this fantasy world, twins are expected to marry the same person, which in this case, might be going to cause some problems! This is the opening sequence.

“What do you think of Terion?”

The question caught Brianna by surprise, and she paused in plaiting her long blonde hair to look up at her twin, Mianna, standing by the window. She was looking out at something Brianna couldn’t see, so she walked across to the window as she tied a yellow ribbon in her hair.

Following her sister’s gaze, she saw the young man in question, helping move the benches into position in the village square. Like everyone else in the village, she had known him since she was a child, and she could easily recall a hundred facts about him.

He was kind and gentle, and always did the right thing. He’d rescued Mianna’s kitten from a tree when they were seven. He’d taken them for rides on his horse when they were thirteen, but he wouldn’t let Brianna jump over the hedge. When he’d caught them sneaking out of the house at fifteen, after Brianna had spent hours convincing Mianna that it was worth the risk of being caught to watch the dancing at the midsummer bonfire, he’d marched them straight back home, explaining with a twinkle in his eye that they’d soon be old enough to join in the dancing.

“He’s OK I guess. Why?” Brianna asked.

When Mianna didn’t answer, she glanced up, and was surprised to see a blush stealing across her twin’s face. Mianna turned back to the dressing table to pick up a brush.

“No reason,” she said, in an attempt to be off hand. “Are you going to wear the yellow dress, because if you are, I’ll take the blue one.”

I posted a couple of weeks ago about the success of my recent KDP Select free promotion for Reckless Rescue, and the question I’ve been asked the most is: “Did you see an increase in sales afterwards?” I didn’t want to post too soon, for fear that the sales increase I saw was short lived, but now, about two weeks later, I’m feeling a little more confident. And I think the above graph speaks for itself!

My promotion ended the day before the huge spike you see and I’ve seen a reasonably steady movement of books since - noticeably better than my sales where before the promotion.

I’m curious about what exactly causes this increase though. My rank is better than it was, but still not high enough for me to think it is causing the increase in sales. The only thing I can put it down to is people talking about the book, seeing it around them, and that this familiarity means they are more likely to take a chance on it?

How long will it last? I don’t know. I don’t expect it will be forever, so for now, I’m enjoying it while it lasts!

What causes you to buy a book? Do you ever browse the books on Amazon based on rank alone?

Today I’m over at Indie Author Land, talking about Reckless Rescue. Drop in and say Hi!

On author sites, I see a lot of people saying not to respond to bad reviews (which I think is good advice), and in amongst it, occasional advice not to read reviews.

If you’re the sort to be easily discouraged or put off by a negative review, I suppose it makes sense. No matter how thick skinned you are, a bad review can make you wonder what you’re doing as an author, whether you’re in the right job, or whether you should just scrap that sequel you’re working on and go watch paint dry instead. So I can totally understand why someone would choose not to read their reviews.

However, it’s not something I can do. I check Amazon and GoodReads daily, and I read every new review. I love reading reviews, since in many cases, it’s the only contact with my readers I get. (Maybe one day I’ll start getting fan mail, but not yet.) Sure, there are some that have made me take a few deep breaths and take a break from reading, but I keep coming back for more.

Because for every bad review, there are two, or three, or even four good reviews. And while I could do without the bad, it’s the good ones that make me pick up that novel again, and get enthused about my writing. Every time someone says, “I can’t wait for the sequel,” it reminds me that I’d better get working on it! Ever time someone says, “I couldn’t put it down,” it makes me smile.

Sometimes, you have to take the bad to get the good.

I guess I might think differently if I was seeing mostly bad reviews, or even an equal mix. However, I’m not the type to bury my head in the sand. If I was getting mostly bad reviews, I’d want to know so I could do something about it, rather than continue writing in ignorance. Critique is always hard to accept, but sometimes it’s necessary to grow as a person, and as a writer.

How about you? Do you read your reviews? And readers, do you think authors should be reading what you write, or are you writing only for fellow readers?

For today’s SFR (Science Fiction Romance) Brigade Presents snippet I took a chance to write down a scene that’s been playing in my mind for the last few days. It seems that there is going to be another book in the barren planet’s romance series after all. This one follows Kerit, Tyris’s brother. And I’m not going to say anything more than that, for fear of spoilers on how Reckless Rebellion ends. But I can share the beginning of this book with you.

Need to do a LOT more research yet, to see how this holds together, but for now, it’s out of my head (I hope), so I can get on with finishing Reckless Rebellion!

Kerit jammed his foot against a rock, and reached into the chalk bag hanging on his belt to coat his hands. While he was stopped, he took a swig of water, and stared up at the cliff above him. Hopefully he would find more handholds above him. Picking a path up the steep rock face wasn’t easy when he could only see about twenty feet ahead of him through the thick dust.

He clipped the bottle back onto his belt, and reached for the next crack in the rock, testing each spot carefully before he committed his full weight to it. The dust just helped the rest of the world, and the spaceship somewhere below him, fade into the distance, as he focused solely on the climb.

Ahead of him there was a change in the cliff, hopefully a ledge. If it was stable, he could stop and rest for a few minutes. He still had several hours of climbing to go before he reached the point where he could place the beacon he carried in his backpack.

SFR Brigade Presents are a snippets from a group of Sci-Fi Romance authors. Check them out to discover other cool snippets.

When I first joined GoodReads, not long before Reckless Rescue came out, I have to admit to being a little overwhelmed. I’m pretty used to forums, having been on one or another for fifteen plus years, but GoodReads forum system is something else, and when you’re starting out, it can be hard to make sense of. So I thought I’d post a few tips on how authors can make use of GoodReads to get news of their book out there, without annoying readers.

Your Author Profile

GoodReads authors can apply to have their account linked to their Author Profile (instructions on how to do this can be found here). This will link your books to your profile, and allow you to do things like import posts from your blog to display within GoodReads. Make sure you use a professional looking photo, and have a good bio, as these are the first things someone sees when they go looking for you.

Book Pages

Your book page is one of the most important tools on GoodReads, so make sure you make the most of it. If your book isn’t already on GoodReads, you can add it here. Make sure you upload your cover image, and have a good blurb. Once your book page is set up, you can also upload the first few chapters as a sample for people to download.

Reviews

Once your book is on GoodReads, people can leave reviews there. Unlike Amazon, there is no limit on other authors adding reviews, and GoodReads actively encourages people to rate and review when they list that they’ve finished a book. I’ve found that this means I gain more reviews on GoodReads than I do on Amazon. Be aware though, that the GoodReads star system is different to Amazon’s. On GoodReads, a 3 star review is still a positive one, so don’t get discouraged by getting slightly lower ratings than you do on Amazon.

I’ve noticed that quite a few authors will like reviews posted on their books, so feel free to do this. However, if you receive a bad review, DON’T comment on it. Authors engaging reviewers is frowned upon, and never works out well for the author.

If you want to encourage more reviews, there are many forums you can offer your book up for review. Look for R2R (Read to Review) forums and subforums in your genre. This is where you can offer a certain number of free copies for your book in exchange for reviews. This is well worth it! Make sure you read the rules before posting though, as each forum does this slightly differently.

Listopia

As well as personal recommendations and chats in groups, GoodReads has a section for book lists called Listopia. These are great if you’re looking to read other books in your genre (I found them very useful when I had trouble finding other Sci-Fi Romance books initially), and there are some great and creative lists, such as Best “Strong Female” Fantasy Novels, and Best Books Involving Forbidden Love.

If your novel has a particular category that it fits into, add it to the list. Or make your own list! Don’t just advertise your own book though, remember to vote for other books. And don’t go overboard and add your book to every possible list! I, personally, avoided adding my book to many of the ‘Best’ lists, as I think that’s up to readers to decide, not authors. (Because let’s face it, we always think our book is the best, but we may be a little biased.)

Friends

GoodReads is a social media site, and as with other social media sites, you can add people to your list of friends, and then see what books they’re reading, their blog updates, reviews etc. I started out adding people from Twitter and Facebook (GoodReads can search for these automatically), and then adding people as their comments in groups or on books seemed interesting to me.

Groups

I’ve left this one until last, because I found the GoodReads groups very overwhelming at first. There are SO many different groups, on anything and everything. Unless you’re already used to GoodReads, I’d start adding groups slowly, and only add new ones when you feel like you’re keeping up with the ones you have!

I’ve joined groups for my genre (sci-fi romance, sci-fi, romance etc), some for the area in which I live (Australian groups), writers groups, indie writers groups, bloggers, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg!

Once you’re in a group, many have a place to post an introduction. Make sure you read the rules too. Often there is a place where authors are free to post about their books, but some groups don’t like this! If you’re unsure, as a mod. I’ve always found them very friendly.

Make sure you participate in groups because you’re interested, not just to promote your book. (Trust me, people can tell!) Check the flavour of the group. Some don’t mind if you join in a discussion about a topic close to your book, and mention how it relates, other’s do. Posting promotional information in a group that doesn’t allow it won’t get your book noticed, it will only upset people!

There are other options on GoodReads that I haven’t mentioned because I have no experience with yet. For example, if you have a print book, you can do a giveaway. I’ve heard these are quite good for getting your book noticed. There is also the option of GoodReads advertising, which I’ve heard is cheaper than Facebook.

GoodReads offers many opportunities for an author to connect with readers, so if you haven’t tried it already, I suggest you check it out.

Do you use GoodReads as an author or a reader? How do you use it, and what do you like about it? If you’re a reader, do you like hearing from your favourite authors there, or not?